‘The Left in Britain is sparse’: Left Unity launch election manifesto in London squat

British film director and Left Unity member Ken Loach. (Reuters / Tobias Schwarz) / Reuters

Britain’s anti-austerity party Left Unity launched its election manifesto in a squat in central London on Tuesday with an impassioned speech by veteran filmmaker Ken Loach condemning the nation’s mainstream political parties.

The party said it chose
the squat at Ingestre Place in a bid to “highlight the number
of large buildings standing empty in London at a time when
homelessness is increasing.”

Nestled in the heart of Soho, central London, the crumbling block
has been home to a group of political campaigners known as Love
Activists London for five weeks. It is the 17th large building
the group has occupied since December 2014.

On Tuesday afternoon, Loach pitched Left Unity’s general election
pledges in the squat’s well-kept quarters. The 78 year old film director
co-founded the party with other leading activists and academics
in 2013 to oppose harsh spending cuts backed by the majority of
Britain’s political parties.

Loach is cherished in
Britain for his gritty portrayals of working class life in
ground-breaking films such as Cathy Come Home (1966), Kes (1969)
and My Name Is Joe (1998).He was joined by fellow Left Unity
members Felicity Dowling and Kate Hudson.

“I'm only a rank and file member; please don't present me as
the [party’s] leader,” said Loach in his opening remarks.

Throughout the course of his address, he emphasized Left Unity’s
anti-capitalist objectives. The party’s manifesto was opposed to
diktats of the market, and decidedly pro-immigration. It was also
emphatic that people should be prioritized over multinationals
and banks.

Loach was particularly critical of Labour and Britain’s trade
union movement. He asked how Labour can call itself a party of
the left. He went on to say he doesn’t believe Ed Miliband’s
party “will end the privatization and subcontracting in the
health service.”

“The left is not a crowded place I’m afraid,” he said,
lamenting it has become “quite sparse.”

Loach compared Britain’s mainstream political parties to
“bald men arguing over the comb – a fine point discussion
between people who have no real answers.”He also hit out at Britain’s Trade
Union Congress (TUC), warning it has become an“empty phrase.”

Loach said the trade union movement needs “the strength of
working people.”

“We need stronger trade unions with stronger leaders that
don’t just give money to the Labour party for the Labour Party to
cut its throat,” he said.

“I think people should fear the Tories and UKIP as an extreme
example of the Tories,” he said. “There’s a cruelty aboard. And
there’s a fear aboard.”

Loach predicted further cuts to social benefits and the rise of
“crueler sanctions” should UKIP manage to increase its
share of seats post May 7. He said Nigel Farage’s party
represent “all that is mean spirited” in British
politics.

Left Unity has a total of ten candidates in Britain’s 2015
general election.

The party’s national secretary Kate Hudson said it had chosen the
modest venue at Ingestre Place to draw attention to Britain’s
homelessness crisis.

“Rents are rocketing and good housing is getting further out
of reach for so many – yet there are 700,000 empty buildings in
Britain that could be brought back into use,” she said.

“It’s just not right that so much space is wasted while
people are sleeping on the streets.”

Paul from Love Activists
London, who have been occupying Ingestre Place for over a month,
said the campaign has occupied “prominent buildings” in central
London to highlight the issues of “homelessness,
gentrification and capitalism.”